Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse dentistry is guilty of malpractice and negligence in the care of four young patients, but will not have to pay the families for injuries, a state Supreme Court jury ruled.

That means that while Small Smiles mistreated patients at its South Geddes Street clinic, the injuries did not reach the threshold for compensation, said Richard Frankel, a Texas attorney who represented the patients' families.

The split verdict sets the tone for a huge backlog of lawsuits against Small Smiles. There are 30 other children statewide -- five more in Syracuse -- and roughly 100 nationwide who claim Small Smiles gave them bad treatment, Frankel said.

Before the jury verdict, state Supreme Court Justice Deborah Karalunas ruled that Small Smiles violated state law as a dentistry by being owned by a corporation and not a dentist, Frankel said.

The lawyer wasn't sure why the jury didn't award damages. But lawyers plan to continue pursuing the other cases, while re-evaluating why the jury felt the dentistry didn't cause injuries.

Families claim that children, ages 1 to 7, were subjected to root canals, tooth extractions and fillings while physically restrained in the dental chair and without sedation or general anesthesia in some instances.

As complaints mounted in Syracuse, the company also faced legal trouble elsewhere.

In January 2010, it agreed to a $24 million settlement with the federal government, including $1.15 million for the state of New York. The settlement resolved claims the company operated as a fraudulent scheme to bill Medicaid for hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for unnecessary, inappropriate, unsafe and excessive dental procedures on young children.

But this is actually the second time a Syracuse jury has ruled that Small Smiles did not cause injury. Last November, a jury ruled completely in favor of the dentistry in the case of Jeremy Bohn, finding no malpractice or negligence.